Newney Green Pit

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 51.7329, 0.3853

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Also within

Essex County

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
TL648064 — Favourable 0.08 2024-03-08

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Quaternary

Landscape processes: Fluvial, Glacial

Description

Area, 0.07 ha. 0.18 ac. Description Newney Green Pit provides exposures in the important Middle Pleistocene sequence first recognised in Suffolk, namely Kesgrave Thames Gravel, with a Cromerian Palaeosol fossil soil horizon developed in its upper layers and overlain by the Lowestoft Anglian Till. Occasional patches of glacio fluvial gravel, loess, and cover sands are also found at Newney Green and an Anglian arctic structure soil is superimposed on the Cromerian palaeosol marking a change from warm interglacial to intensely cold glacial conditions. This site is of prime importance for the correlation between Pleistocene stratigraphic sites in the Thames and East Anglian areas. A vital locality in working out the chronological sequence of events in the evolution of the River Thames.

Plant communities

A9 — Fast flowing river and stream, Marginal and inundation, Pond ditch and canal, Sluggish river and stream

Potamogeton natans community

Schoenoplectus lacustris, Juncus bulbosus, Sparganium angustifolium, Sparganium erectum, Sparganium minimum, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Lemna trisulca, Nymphaea alba, Callitriche platycarpa, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus trichophyllus, Glyceria fluitans, Chara subspinosa

A14 — Fast flowing river and stream

Myriophyllum alterniflorum community

Isolepis fluitans, Juncus bulbosus, Fontinalis antipyretica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton filiformis, Potamogeton gramineus, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus peltatus, Chara spp., Nitella hyalina

A17 — Chalk river and stream, Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community

Berula erecta, Nasturtium officinale, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Veronica beccabunga, Polygonum amphibium, Polygonum hydropiper, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton pectinatus, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans

A18 — Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus fluitans community

Fontinalis antipyretica, Fontinalis squamosa var. curnowii, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Myriophyllum spicatum, Elodea canadensis, Mentha aquatica, Lemna gibba, Lemna minor, Potamogeton perfoliatus, Ranunculus fluitans, Glyceria fluitans, Phalaris arundinacea